Friday, November 2, 2012

On June 14, 2009 I published the following map of ancient
Sparta showing the location of the villages/clans.

Unfortunately, the map has the tribes incorrectly located. This post ranks fourth in popularity and the thought of readers being exposed to incorrect information is unacceptable to me, so we must rebuild the map.

Searching the web (or looking in the literature) for maps of Sparta is difficult. The few
examples one can find are eighteenth century posters, most notably the one by
the Frenchman Bocage which first appeared in 1783. It appears that I used this
to mark up my own map. I have recently read that Bocage’s map contained misinterpretations from
ancient writings. Of course, he did not have the benefit of modern archeology
which would have been helpful.

Now examine my rework of the map.

And I quote Toynbee’s description of the villages and clans:

“Thus, about 700
B.C., there were at Sparta, over and above the three privileged clan groups,
five locally organized communities, embracing both the clansmen and a large
unprivileged population besides. These five were: Pitane,
the seat of the Agiadai-clan and their clients (containing the burial place
of the Agiad phratria: N.W. of the agora: Limnai,
the seat of the Eurypontidai clan and their clients (tombs of the Eurypontid
phratria, on the street which seems to have branched N.E. from the agora) on
the low lands bordering the Eurotas-bed: Kynosoura,
the long ridge S. of Limnai, occupied by the community from Lakedaimon: andMesoa, between these three, and S. of the
agora, occupied by the Minyai from Therai and their clients. Lastly, Amyklai, two miles S. of the Tiasa (Magoula) river,
left in possession of its old inhabitants.”

Of course, Leonidas was of the Agiad line. Menelaos (husband
of Helen and brother of Agamemnon) was Kynosouran. Forklore has it that
Menelaos migrated from Therapne (old Lakedaimon) to the west bank of the
Eurotos and later the Spartan people became Lakedaimons. There is a shrine to Menelaos
at Therapne.

And there's that fifth village that was part of Sparta -- Amyklai. The map below shows it separation from the others.

I have found this topic interesting as well. In the case of Rome, you can calculate the transportation time to market based on oxen pulling a wagon at 2 miles per hour. The farmers had to live near town in order to get the goods to market before they spoiled.

I located the Spartan agora based on the description of Toynbee which is quoted in the post. The quote was taken from his book Some Problems of Greek History. The arrow points to an approximate location.